Graduate sets an example
JANET Mardbinda will return to the remote community of Warruwi as the first person from the local school to have completed their Year 12 certificate.
Ms Mardbinda, 18, was in Darwin on Friday night to receive her recognition in front of teachers and fellow Northern Territory Open Education Centre students.
‘‘ They announced my name and I went up and got two certificates. It made me feel very proud,’’ she said.
Ms Mardbinda also received a small plush toy, which she was clutching proudly when the NT News visited her hotel yesterday.
Scrawled across it were messages of congratulations and love from her teachers.
Warruwi is the main township on South Goulburn Island, which is about 290km east of Darwin.
Its 400- odd inhabitants speak a mixture of languages, including Mawng, Walang, Kunwinjku and English.
Ms Mardbinda spent most of her time at Warruwi School, but flew to Darwin occasionally for specialist help with Year 12 studies from teachers at NTOEC, a distance education provider.
Her main area of study was languages and how they related to culture.
She also studied radio broadcast and is a handy singer — next year she hopes to study music at Charles Darwin University or another institution in the south, maybe even in Melbourne.
With her for the historic moment and gushing with pride was grandmother Rachel Meiyinbara.
‘‘I am so proud of her,’’ Ms Meiyinbara said.